FAQ

General FAQ

Where Is FoodCloud's App Being Used?

FoodCloud’s retailer app is currently in use in Ireland and the UK.

Our aim is to offer our solution to communities around the world who can benefit and achieve our vision of a world where no good food goes to waste and we are currently interested in hearing from charities and businesses globally that could benefit from our solution.

Where Are FoodCloud Hubs Located?

FoodCloud Hubs is operational in every county in Ireland, through three redistribution hubs in Dublin, Cork and Galway.

Does FoodCloud Accept Hot or Prepared Food For Charities?

We are not currently able to accept hot food for distribution to charities, or prepared food from restaurants and hotels.

Does FoodCloud Accept Leftovers Or Homemade Products For Charities?

Unfortunately at this time we cannot accept leftover food or homemade items for redistribution to charities.

FAQ | Charities

What Services Does FoodCloud Provide Charities?

There are two services that FoodCloud provides charities;
1) collecting fresh surplus food directly from a local retailer using an app
2) access to large quantities of redistributed longer-life food from one of the FoodCloud Hubs

What Are The Types Of Food That Charities Receive?

If a charity is collecting food directly from a local retailer through FoodClouds app the food received will mainly be surplus food. This includes bakery products, fresh fruit, vegetables and some chilled foods. The amount of food varies from retailer to retailer, as does the food type.

If a charity is collecting food from one of our FoodCloud Hubs, the type of food is generally; fresh short dated products, products with slightly damaged packaging or products that were ordered in excess due to error by a manufacturer or retailer. The food supplied to FoodCloud Hubs from the food industry can include fresh food, refrigerated and frozen food, dried food, food in boxes, cans and bottles. The food varies week to week.

Is My Charity Eligible?

FoodCloud’s requirements for charity partners are;
1) They are a registered charity with a CHY no. or a group with charitable purpose.
2) They have, or are willing to implement, a Food Safety Management system.
3) They have received relevant food safety training/instruction.
4) They complete FoodCloud’s due diligence process.

FoodCloud Hubs works with charities and not-for-profits who have a food budget, and who are in a position to receive, store, prepare and serve food safely. After the organisation has gone through the application process successfully, they and the Hub team will discuss whether delivery/collection is needed. Based on this and the volume of food available, they will then either be placed on a waiting list or set up on the system as a charity partner.

For both FoodCloud and FoodCloud Hubs we ask that all partner organisations register with their local Environmental Health Officer within 6 months of partnering with us.

How Does FoodCloud Work?

If a retailer has perfectly good food that they cannot sell, our system allows them to upload a description of the product through their smartphone app or in-store PDA. There are local charities connected to the retailer through our platform and one of these charities receives a notification notifying them that food is available for collection at an allocated time.

The charity then responds to the offer either accepting or declining. If accepting, the charity continues to the local retailer and collects the surplus food.

When a charity collects from their local retailer through FoodCloud, the retail staff will have identified the surplus food from that day for collection and will have it ready for collection in-store.

Each charity knows in advance the day and times they may expect to receive a text message. This is agreed on with our support team as part of the on-boarding process.

How Does FoodCloud Hubs Work?

FoodCloud Hubs works with registered food industry partners to receive all ad-hoc and regular surplus food. In some instances, businesses deliver directly to one of our Hubs, while in others we collect daily or weekly with our fleet of refrigerated vans.

Once the food reaches the closest FoodCloud Hub it is counted, uploaded onto our warehousing management system, and then segregated into storage.

Each day, our Hub team calls our designated charity partners, to notify them of the products that we have in the Hub and enable charities to place orders. All orders are available for both delivery or collection the next day.

What Are The Benefits For Charities?

FoodCloud’s partnered charities provide support to many individuals within the community, including children and youth at risk of food poverty, the elderly, those who are homeless, those who are going through drug and alcohol rehabilitation, women who are escaping domestic violence and families with low incomes who need help to get by.

The food redistributed through FoodCloud and FoodCloud Hubs ensures these charities benefit from significant cost savings, which they can then re-invest in essential programmes to support their underlying mission.

What About Food Safety?

Both businesses and charities must comply with all the relevant food safety guidelines and are both asked to sign agreements to reflect this before they can sign up to FoodCloud. We have verified that our processes meet with the guidelines provided by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland.

Businesses must only supply food that is within its use by date (where applicable) and has been treated in accordance with food safety legislation. The charity has the right to refuse food at the point of collection if they do not find that it is suitable for consumption. The charity takes responsibility for the food from the point of collection and for ensuring that the food is treated in accordance with food safety legislation. All charities registered with FoodCloud should have a Food Safety Management system in place, which should also include food safety training/instruction.

If you need any advice or support regarding Food safety, please contact Karen our Food Safety Officer on [email protected]

How Much Does It Cost?

For charities collecting fresh surplus food from their local food retailer through FoodCloud, can avail of the service and food free of charge.

For charities that are collecting food from FoodCloud Hubs there is a charge based on the weight of food being collected. This charge covers the operational and upkeep costs of the three Hubs. FoodCloud Hubs on average saves charities 90% on the retail price of items.

FAQ | Food Industry

What Service Does FoodCloud Hubs Provide The Food Industry?

FoodCloud Hubs is a social enterprise that connects food businesses that have large volumes of surplus food, such as farms, manufacturers and distributors, to charities that need it through three redistribution hubs in Cork, Galway and Dublin.

What type of food does FoodCloud Hubs Accept?

How Does FoodCloud Hubs Work?

FoodCloud Hubs work with registered food industry partners to receive ad-hoc and surplus food.Businesses either deliver directly to one of our Hubs or the food is collected (daily or weekly) by our fleet of refrigerated vans.

Once the food reaches the closest FoodCloud Hub, it’s counted, uploaded onto our warehousing management system, and segregated into storage. Each day, a member of our Hub team calls our charity partners to notify them of the products we have in their local Hub, and take an order for delivery or collection.

What Are The Benefits Of The FoodCloud Hub Solution?

The modern food system is unpredictable. Many distributors and producers of food find themselves with large volumes of surplus due to order cancellations, mistakes in packaging and a variety of other conditions, making perfectly good food unsuitable for retailers. This high quality food is often wasted at a large cost to businesses. Good food that can feed people should never be wasted.

FoodCloud Hubs offer businesses a solution by using this food to support the work of Ireland’s charity sector.

What Type Of Food Businesses Can Sign Up?

If you are a farmer, manufacturer or distributor, FoodCloud Hubs can redistribute your surplus through three redistribution hubs in Dublin, Cork and Galway.

Where Does The Food Go?

FoodCloud’s partnered charities provide support to many individuals within the community, including children and youth at risk of food poverty, the elderly, those who are homeless, those who are going through drug and alcohol rehabilitation, women who are escaping domestic violence and families with low incomes who need help to get by.

The food provided through FoodCloud ensures these charities benefit from significant cost savings, which they can then re-invest in essential programmes to support their underlying mission.

What About Food Safety?

Both businesses and charities must comply with all the relevant food safety guidelines and are both asked to sign agreements to reflect this before they can sign up to FoodCloud.

Businesses must only supply food that is within its use by date (where applicable) and has been treated in accordance with food safety legislation.

The charity has the right to refuse food at the point of collection if they do not find that it is suitable for consumption. The charity takes responsibility for the food from the point of collection and for ensuring that the food is treated in accordance with food safety legislation.

Handling food safely is paramount to FoodCloud Hubs. We follow food safety legislation to ensure all food is delivered in a safe condition. We use a specialist IT system to provide full traceability of every product and have refrigerated vans to secure the cold-chain.
We have verified that our processes meet with the guidelines provided by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland.

FoodCloud has an internal Food Safety Officer, offering timely advice in relation to all food safety concerns that arise.

FAQ Retailers

What Service Does FoodCloud Provide To Retailers?

FoodCloud offers a fast and efficient way for businesses to redistribute surplus food to charities and contribute to their local communities in a meaningful and practical way.

What Type Of Food Does FoodCloud Accept?

Surplus food is food that is perfectly fit for human consumption but cannot be sold for a variety of reasons. For example, fresh produce that will not be sold the next day, short dated products, products with slightly damaged packaging or mistakes in ordering.

How Does FoodCloud Work?

When a retailers has perfectly good food that they cannot sell, our system allows them to upload a description of the product through a website or a smartphone app for donation.

Our platform has locals charities linked to each stores and one of these charities receives a notification that food is available for collection.

After the charity responds that they will collect the food, the retailer is notified that it has been accepted.

The charity then collects the food from their local store within the time allocated for collection.

What Are The Benefits Of The FoodCloud Solution?

The modern food system is unpredictable. Many retailers find themselves with perfectly good food that they cannot sell. This high quality food is often wasted at a large cost to businesses. Good food that can feed people should never be wasted. FoodCloud offers businesses a solution by using this food to support the work of Ireland’s charity sector.

Where Does FoodCloud Operate?

Our aim is to offer our solution to communities around the world who can benefit and achieve our vision of a world where no good food goes to waste.

We are currently interested in hearing from charities and businesses globally that could benefit from our solution, please contact our Team on [email protected]

What Type Of Retailers Can Sign Up?

If you are a retailer or an independent store, our software platform can connect you directly with charities in your locality.

If you are a retailer in the UK or Ireland interested in learning more about signing up, please contact Carla on our Business Engagement Team [email protected]

Please note,we are not currently unable to accept hot food or prepared food from restaurants and hotels for redistribution.

Where Does The Food Go?

FoodCloud’s partnered charities provide support to many individuals within the community, including children and youth at risk of food poverty, the elderly, those who are homeless, those who are going through drug and alcohol rehabilitation, women who are escaping domestic violence and families with low incomes who need help to get by.

The food provided through FoodCloud ensures these charities benefit from significant cost savings, which they can then re-invest in essential programmes to support their underlying mission.

What About Food Safety?

Both retailers and charities must comply with all the relevant food safety guidelines and are both asked to sign agreements to reflect this before they can sign up to FoodCloud. We have verified that our processes meet with the guidelines provided by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland.

Retailers must only supply food that is within its use by date (where applicable) and has been treated in accordance with food safety legislation.

The charity has the right to refuse food at the point of collection if they do not find that it is suitable for consumption. The charity takes responsibility for the food from the point of collection and for ensuring that the food is treated in accordance with food safety legislation.

FoodCloud has an internal Food Safety Officer, offering timely advice in relation to all food safety concerns that arise.

How Much Does FoodCloud Cost?

FoodCloud charges retailers a fee per store to cover our operating expenses. As a social enterprise, this fee enables us to ensure our solution is sustainable and can continue to benefit the communities that we serve.